Reviews

“Souls on Ice”

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Anthony Sacramone reviews the movie “Souls on Ice” at Filmwell. As he sees it, a promising concept, disappointingly delivered.

Alas, Cold Souls’s parts are greater than its whole, and sounds funnier than it is. It fails to cohere in part because the central conceit—Paul Giamatti playing Paul Giamatti—serves no great purpose. After all, Giamatti, however ill at ease and sad-sackish he may appear, is a successful and respected actor. If we are to believe that he is nevertheless experiencing a soul-shifting crisis, a deep-seated desire to, as Vanya says, “live the rest of his life in a different way,” those scenes must have been left on the cutting-room floor or on Barthes’ laptop.

Religion

I left the ELCA before leaving the ELCA was cool

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(I’ve made a running joke in this blog of referring to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) as The Very Large Lutheran Church Body That Shall Remain Nameless (TVLLCBTSRN). In view of recent events, I’m going to name names in this post. In the future, who knows?)

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s decision, this past week, to bless same-sex sexual relationships, and to allow open homosexuals (if monogamous) to serve as clergy, will, I’m sure, lead to a perceptible (possibly dramatic) exodus of conservative churches and individuals from the denomination. I approve of this, and encourage it.

Still, I can already hear the accusations of the ELCA liberals and homosexual activists—“This isn’t about truth! It’s about hate! You people just can’t get past your homophobia!”

And in a sense, I understand the criticism. One might reasonably ask, “Why now? Has this problem come up all of a sudden (like the unpredicted tornado that knocked the cross off the steeple of Central Lutheran Church, a convention venue, during deliberations)? Why strain out this particular camel, when you’ve swallowed so many camels already?” Continue reading I left the ELCA before leaving the ELCA was cool →

The Press

Embrace the Future

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Terry Teachout writes about new media: “Everybody in America was talking about TV early in 1949, though comparatively few Americans owned a set of their own. Network radio was still the dominant mass entertainment ­medium.” There are lessons for today, but they aren’t detailed. Making money by reporting news or providing entertainment online is still a pioneer territory. The old ad model may not do the job anymore.

Uncategorized

We’re Watching What You Say So You Won’t Have To

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In Britain, you will no longer be “blackballed,” encounter a “black day,” or find anyone’s “right-hand man.” Those words and phrases have been deemed offensive and banned from use by public servants. If you travel to that still beautiful country, get everything in writing because you will not find a “gentleman’s agreement” anywhere. From the article:

Anthony Horowitz, author of the Alex Rider children’s spy books, said: “A great deal of our modern language is based on traditions which have now gone but it would be silly — and extremely inconvenient — to replace them all. A ‘white collar worker’, for example, probably doesn’t wear one. An ‘able seaman’, under new regulations, could well be neither. ‘Spanish practices’ can happen all over Europe. We know what these phrases mean and we can find out from where they were derived. Banning them is just unnecessary.”

Unnecessary? Come, come. We all know that when one corrects one’s speech, one corrects one’s heart. If you look good on the outside, you will be good on the inside. Whitewash the sepulcre without, and it is cleansed within. We all know this, so of course it’s necessary.

Fiction

A Student in Thousand Dollar Bills

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Earlier this week, James Lileks posted the cover of a 1941 copy of Reader’s Digest magazine (which just went into bankruptcy reorganization. I could go on an on about the decline of that publication, but that’s a story for another day). Continue reading A Student in Thousand Dollar Bills →

Book Reviews, Creative Culture